Hate
by SidewaysHourglass
Summary: Yumekui Kenbun/Nightmare Inspector fanfic. Hiruko the baku receives a customer whose dreams are invaded by a person he despises.


Dim light shone through the small stained-glass windows of the Silver Star Tea House, casting patterns of muted color on the street below. Inside the shop, Mizuki sat at her place behind the counter, calmly surveying the growing amount of expenses and debt that she had recorded. Not far from her, Hifumi had fallen asleep with his head on his folded arms, his quiet snoring the only sound in the room. Toward the back of the tea house, Hiruko sat at his usual table, resting his chin in one hand as he absently stroked the sleek black fur of Hifumi's cat, Naamu. The baku whispered something to the creature, tapping the small suitcase on which the cat had settled.

"He seems to like to sleep on your suitcase," Mizuki commented quietly, her observant dark eyes raised from her work.

"He shouldn't," Hiruko answered, gently lifting the cat and setting him on the ground.

Mizuki was still gazing at the baku when the door swung open, rattling the bell and inviting a sharp gust of wind into the tea house. A young man in a long white coat with dark, windswept hair strode across the floor and halted a few feet from Hiruko's table, fists clenched and angry eyes staring at the baku. He had the air of the son of a wealthy family.

"I need your help, baku."

Hiruko raised his eyebrows, straightening in his chair and folding his hands on the curved end of Formalin, the cane that allowed him to do his work. _Interesting_, the dream-eater thought. _I might enjoy the expression on his face when he wakes up._

His demand unanswered, the young man dropped into the chair facing Hiruko and gripped the edge of the table. His face, aged about twenty years, was set in a firm and determined glare. "There is a person whom I despise more than anything in the world," he growled, his dark eyes focused past Hiruko as if he saw the hated person standing behind the baku. "And now she has appeared in my dreams, turning them into nightmares. You must help me erase her from my dreams, or I will never sleep soundly again!"

Hiruko traced the edge of the table with a finger. "You haven't given me a name by which to call you."

The man's glare slackened for an instant. "Kurotsuki Chokichi."

Hiruko narrowed his eyes and smirked. "All right, Kurotsuki Chokichi. I'll help you." He raised his cane and the orb set in the curved end began to glow. "_Sleep now…Leave this world behind_," he commanded in an echoing ethereal voice as the light from Formalin washed over the young man. He sank down on the table as the baku's cane transported him into the world of dreams.

Chokichi opened his eyes to a familiar scene. He stood in a grove of cherry blossom trees in full bloom, the soft pink petals stirring lightly in a calm, warm breeze.

Hiruko was leaning against one of the trees nearby, looking up at the beautiful blossoms. "This is it, right?"

"Yes." The man glanced around with narrowed eyes. "She should appear any moment now. She always comes from the direction of the sun."

Sure enough, just as he spoke the words, a beautiful young woman with a sad face stepped from behind a tree a few yards distant, silhouetted by the low sun. Her long black hair swept behind her as she moved gracefully closer, clothed in a white silk kimono.

"That's her!" Chokichi cried, pointing and glaring.

Hiruko gazed at the man briefly, then turned his deep blue-violet eyes back to the woman. "This is the person you hate?"

"That's her!" he repeated. "I've had to see her awful face every night for almost a month! She always makes faces and says strange things as she comes closer. Please, Hiruko, get rid of her!"

Hiruko sighed softly. "You usually turn away from her before she reaches you."

The man's anger was checked by the unexpected statement. "That's right," he assented, turning to look at the woman again. "I cannot stand the sight of her."

Hiruko's lips curved slightly in a rueful, sad smile. "Watch."

As they looked on, a second Chokichi, a dream image of the man, stepped from behind one of the trees beside them. He was dressed in a black suit and wore a radiant smile. His face seemed to glow with warmth as he extended his arms toward the beautiful woman and embraced her.

"I'm so happy," the dream Chokichi murmured into her black hair. "You're the only one who has never abandoned me, and now we'll be together forever!"

The woman's face had remained unhappy and downcast since her appearance. Now, tears welled in her dark eyes as she pressed her face against Chokichi's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Chokichi. I should have told you before our wedding day…"

He took a step back, his hands on her arms, still smiling. "What is it, Aiko?" He saw her tears and the smile faded. "What's wrong?"

She kept her eyes on the ground. "I've been in love with someone else for a long time. I didn't know how to tell you, so I hesitated…but now I have to tell you – " she raised her eyes and voice in pleading desperation – "because I can't marry you when I love someone else! Please forgive me, Chokichi! I'm so sorry!" She collapsed into sobs, burying her face against his chest.

The man stood frozen for a long moment while she cried, eyes wide and glazed in shock. His hands trembled slightly, no longer touching her arms.

"What is this?" whispered the Chokichi standing at Hiruko's side, enthralled.

"Watch," the baku answered softly, his eyes narrowed in a bleak frown.

The dream image of Chokichi suddenly jerked back, stepping away from his fiancée. "You're just like the rest," he accused in a hollow voice, his eyes growing wild and angry. "You're going to leave me alone just like everyone else." His eyes sparked with rising fury. "I won't let you!" he shouted suddenly, lunging toward her. He grasped her left wrist with one hand and her right shoulder with the other. "I'll kill you before I let you leave me alone!"

She struggled to break free, but he was much stronger. He threw her to the ground and his grasping hands found her throat. The observers saw the blindness of rage in his wide eyes, his face contorted and his teeth bared in a grimace of wild and painful violence. It was over in a few moments. The woman's gasps and chokes, strangled pleas for mercy, ended as the life died from her eyes and her hands, clutching folds of Chokichi's suit, fell still on the grass among the fallen cherry blossoms.

Slowly, Chokichi rose from her motionless body and stood looking down at her, tears streaming from his angry eyes.

"This is your memory of the day your beloved fiancée died by your hand," Hiruko explained quietly, watching the dream unfold. "You loved her so much, but she was going to abandon you. You couldn't accept it, and…"

"I hate you!" screamed the dream image of Chokichi, tears dripping onto the white silk of the dead woman's kimono. "I hate you! I can't stand the sight of you!" He stopped, shivering, and a cold indifference glazed over his eyes. "Don't come near me, you deplorable wretch," he continued in a toneless voice. "I feel only hated for a creature like you."

Hiruko looked at the Kurotsuki Chokichi standing next to him. "Your shock drove you to replace all memories of her with the rage you felt at the moment you killed her. You no longer remember that you loved her – you convinced yourself that you hated her so that the agony of being betrayed and then killing the one you loved would not consume you."

The man stared at the dream image of himself without saying a word. For a long time he stood motionless, and then a tear slid down his cheek.

Hiruko closed his eyes. "_Time to wake up_."

The light washed over them both and Hiruko opened his eyes to the dim illumination of the Silver Star Tea House. Sitting opposite him, Chokichi cradled his head in his hands, tears splashing on the wooden surface of the table between them.

Mizuki stood behind Hiruko's chair, holding a cup of coffee she had brought for the guest. She touched the baku's shoulder, whispering, "What happened?"

"He's seen through the lie he created to hid from the truth," Hiruko answered, his eyes still trained on the young man. "What will you do now, Kurotsuki Chokichi?"

"I'll turn myself in," the man sobbed. "I…I can't believe I would do such a thing. I can't believe I would kill a person I loved…just because…I've been so lonely, why would I…And I didn't even remember!"

Hiruko touched the orb where the compressed dream was confined in the shaft of his cane with a fingertip, gazing at the object with half-closed eyes. "Your conscience is strong. It tried to remind you of what you had done with a dream, despite the defense your subconscious created to make you forget." His gaze shifted back to the man, holding the customer's tearful stare. "I think you should go now."

Kurotsuki Chokichi slowly climbed to his feet and walked unsteadily to the door. As he pushed it open, a breeze stirred in the street outside.

"Can you ever forgive me, Aiko?" he whispered as the door swung shut.

**

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**

The next night, Mizuki looked up at the sound of the bell above the door jingling as someone stepped inside. The landlord's eyes widened at the sight of a beautiful young woman with flowing black hair in a white kimono.

"May I help you?" Mizuki asked, motioning for the woman to enter the area where Hiruko met his clients.

"Is this where Hiruko the baku lives? I keep having a horrible nightmare that I can't breathe."

* * *

**Author's Note**

_Aiko_ means "beloved"

_Chokichi_ means "good fortune"


End file.
